


Peaches and Plums

by Madam_Pince



Series: Queliot in the Underworld [1]
Category: The Magicians (TV)
Genre: Fix-It, M/M, Peaches and Plums (The Magicians), Post-Season/Series 04, Post-Season/Series 04 Finale
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-22
Updated: 2021-01-22
Packaged: 2021-03-13 17:14:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,429
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28906911
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Madam_Pince/pseuds/Madam_Pince
Summary: Quentin manages to speak to Eliot one last time before moving on, getting the closure we all need.--------“We fell in love in two different timelines and two different lifetimes, and I sure as fuck think we deserve a goddamn happy ending.”
Relationships: Quentin Coldwater/Eliot Waugh
Series: Queliot in the Underworld [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2130159
Comments: 2
Kudos: 46





	Peaches and Plums

**Author's Note:**

> Because the season 4 finale was NOT OK and I HAVE FEELINGS.

Quentin woke up in the elevator. _Eliot. Was he safe? Was he alive?_ The doors of the elevator opened.  
“Hey, it’s been a while. Welcome to the Underworld.”  
Quentin could only stare.  
“Oh shit.”

~

Quentin is sipping hot chocolate, sitting opposite Penny. He is trying to sort out his feelings, but his mind keeps slipping back to Eliot.  
“Did I do something brave to save my...friends, or did I finally find a way to kill myself?”  
OK. I can see we’re going to need the deluxe package.”

~

Quentin finds himself outside the cottage. There’s a small fire, and his friends. Alice, Kady, Julia, Dean Fogg, Penny 23... Singing. Crying. It was nice to know they were all sad, that they loved him... _but where was Eliot?_  
“Penny. You have to tell me if Eliot is ok.”  
“See for yourself” said Penny, pointing. Margo was leading Eliot across the grass as he hobbled toward the fire with the help of a cane.  
Tears sprung to Quentin’s eyes as he gazes at Eliot’s face. _Eliot’s alive._ Even if he hadn’t loved Quentin the way he wanted, at least Quentin’s sacrifice, had saved Eliot’s life. Quentin thought back to the day that Eliot broke through the monster’s control and spoke to him. “I mean who gets proof of concept like that? Peaches and Plums, motherfucker.” A small smile flashes on Quentin’s face as he remembers. But that was just a phrase Eliot had used to let him know he was still alive right? It couldn’t have been a profession of love. No, Eliot had doused that flame that day on the throne room steps in Fillory. But that’s OK, Quentin convinces himself, because Eliot is alive, and they were friends.  
Quention looks around the fire as his friends mourn, each of them tossing remembrances into the flames as they sing. Tears are slipping down his cheeks.  
“It’s time to say goodbye,” Penny says as he starts to guide him away.  
“One last look.” Quentin pleads through tears. Penny obliges.  
Something had caught Quentin’s eye that made him want to take a closer look. Eliot threw something into the fire. What was it? He couldn’t make it out. It looked small and round… Quentin walks back to the fire circle and stares down into the embers. It’s a peach.

~

“You have to let me speak to him.” Quentin told Penny back in the underworld, the hot chocolate still warm. There has to be a way.”  
“I’m sorry, Quentin.”  
“No fuck that, Penny. I visited the underworld before. I came back. No big deal. I need some fucking closure. Take me to that goddamn East River Dragon. Get me a fuckton of fucking bunnies. I’m doing this.”

~

Eliot looks down at his prone form on the ground. Margo kneeling next to it. The dragon towers over him. _Is it smiling? She is definitely going to eat me. Why am I doing this again? Some bullshit quest that Fen saw in a dream?_  
“Now, don’t cock this up, El” Margo says to his still body. “I almost lost you before, and I really don’t want to have to fight a fucking dragon for you.” She nudges his body with her toe.  
Eliot smiles even though she can’t see him. The dragon turns its massive head toward Eliot. “Make it quick, magician. Or you’ll make a nice snack.” she says as she engulfs him in her hot, foul, breath.

~

Eliot finds himself in a waiting room of sorts. What the fuck is this place? He looks around. _Holy shit._  
“Penny?!”  
“Hey, man, look I was against this from the start. I honestly have no idea how Quentin managed to get you here, but here you are. That boy does dumb shit for the people he loves.”  
“Wait- what? I’m on a ques- Fen saw some shit in a dream… What did you say about Quentin?”  
“Ugh. Whatever, man. Let’s go so you two can eat some fucking peaches or something.”

~

Eliot stands outside the cottage in the cool dawn air. The remains of a fire smolders inside a stone ring in the soft sunlight. He looks around. Was this the fire they made for Quentin all those months ago?  
“Yeah, it is.” comes a voice behind him. That voice, that sweet voice. Eliot remembered all the times he had found comfort in that voice. Eliot turns, and there he is.  
“Q,” he breathes.  
“Hey, Eliot.”  
“I- how- uh- where-”  
“Shhh. It’s magic, Eliot. What good is magic if it can’t bring us together across worlds?”  
“I can buy that. So why am I here?” Eliot asks, not even daring to hope that Penny’s snide comments about love and peaches could be true. _Could it? No way. I fucked that up that day on the throne room steps. And when the monster took over my body, that sweet kiss in my happy place only happened in my goddamn head. There was no way Quentin still loves me. Not after that rejection. Ugh, GODS, even when I fought free of the monster, why hadn’t I kissed him then?!_ Eliot closes his eyes and sighs.  
“Ok, Q, why am I here, then if it isn’t for the great quest of Fen’s lucid dreams?”  
“I needed to see you, Eliot. I needed to ask you--” Quentin inhales sharply.  
“Spit it out, Q.” Eliot says laughing. I have to make it back in an hour or Margo tries to duel a Dragon.  
“The peach.” Quentin whispers.  
“What?”  
“The peach. In the fire. When I died.”  
“You were there?!”  
“Yeah, Penny thought it might be good to give me some sort of closure. To know that my death saved my friends… saved you.”  
Eliot feels a blush rise to his cheeks even as tears brim in his eyes.  
“Yes, Q, you dumb fuck. You saved the world.” Quentin reaches out a finger to catch one of Eliot’s tears, but pulls back abruptly. Now that he’s here, with Eliot, after all this time, what if he had imagined the meaning behind the peach in the flames? What if they were just friends remembering Fillory? That’s all right, right?

~

Eliot’s brain was reeling. _Be brave, motherfucker. Just because that kiss happened in my head, doesn’t mean it isn’t real. Quentin taught you to be brave, now be brave, goddamnit._  
Eliot took a step closer to Quentin, the shorter man’s finger still outstretched. Eliot reaches his hand up slowly, grasping Quentin’s hand in his own. His skin is warm. Soft.  
“El,” breathes Quentin.  
Eliot closes the gap between their bodies, pressing his lips firmly against Quentin’s. His left hand still holding Quentin’s and his other reaching up to tangle itself in his hair, pulling Quentin closer and crushing his lips against his own. A soft moan escapes Quentin as Eliot gently eases his tongue inside the other man’s mouth. Quentin brings his free hand up to Eliot’s face to find it wet with tears. 

~

“Geez, come up for some air.” Came Penny’s voice.  
“Motherfucker.” curses Quentin, breathless.  
“Cockblock” mumbles Eliot. Then: “Shit. I have to go.”  
He looks in agony at Quentin. “Why the fuck are you dead?”  
“I just am, El. We can’t change that.”  
“Then what the fuck are we supposed to do, Q? I- I love you.”  
“I love you too, Eliot. I've loved you since the first minute I saw you at Brakebills. You looked like a fucking douchebag on that wall, and I loved you instantaneously.”  
Eliot mimes smoking a cigarette. “Quentin Coldwater? You’re late.”  
They share a brief laugh.  
Quentin looks serious again. “I’ll wait for you, El.”  
“That seems a bit extreme, Q.”  
“No, Eliot, you go out there and live. Fuck a lot of people. Maybe not anyone's boyfriend though-”  
“Not gonna make any promises.”  
“Seriously, Eliot. What’s another eighty years, when we can have eternity? Live. Live for as long as you possibly can. And when your time comes… when you’re old, and gray, and have that ridiculous old man hipster hairstyle like you had in Fillory…” Quentin swallows, wiping away his tears. “When you die, Eliot, come down here, and get your goddamn metrocard as soon as fucking possible, and come and find me.” Eliot nods, smiling through his tears. “Eliot,” Quentin continues, “We fell in love in two different timelines and two different lifetimes, and I sure as fuck think we deserve a goddamn happy ending.”  
Eliot leans down to press his lips softly against Quentin’s and tastes the mix of tears lingering there.  
“Peaches and plums, motherfucker.”  
Quentin grins.  
“Peaches and plums.”


End file.
